MSNBC FLASH--Retaining Wall Collapses on NYC Parkway

[MADem]

Highway shut down, debris and trees on north lanes of Henry Hudson parkway near GW Bridge. No link yet, will look...

Chopper footage on via WNBC showing now.

Washington Heights area....

[rodeodance]

1. lots of talk about our failing infrastructure including brindges a while

ago in the news, but not last few years (and this infrastructure has never been fixed).

[shoelace414]

3. Fixing things cost money..

people can use their money better than the governement can.

so FIX YOUR OWN BRIDGE
:sarcasm:

[musette_sf]

7. Well!

THAT was small-L-libertarian of you to say! :sarcasm:

[MADem]

2. There are TONS AND TONS of dirt on the road

They do not know if anyone is under it. It looks pretty dramatic, frankly...

[Renew Deal]

4. It's a very busy road.

[johnfunk]

29. A major story with regional and national implications

• The wall collapsed onto the Henry Hudson Parkway in THE major roadway between Manhattan's West Side and the south of New York State, including substantial upscale suburban communities
• The wall collapse happened at the beginning of "rush hour" out of the city for commuters
• Preliminary heat sensing indicates nobody was buried, but these results are _not_ definitive -- and God forbid what might have happened if the wall collapsed at the height of rush hour
• The wall, over 100 years old, bordered a private park -- and the wall may be part of the property
• WCBS-2 and WNBC-4 both report that the wall had been bowing for a few days
• Many similar walls along the Henry Hudson, Riverside Drive and other north-to-south arteries in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx
• It's likely the MTA and Amtrak will have to add train service between the 'burbs and Grand Central Station

[tjdee]

5. Now if this was IRAQ, the fed govt would be fixing it!

But since it's NYC (who is still owed money for 9/11, right?)....ah well.

[MADem]

14. They are reporting now that it is a state highway

So NY has the bill....

[Zhade]

28. Uh, they would? No, they wouldn't.

They still haven't fixed a TON of the stuff we illegally blew up, like water and sewage treatment facilities.

[anotherdrew]

37. well... they SAY they were going to fix it

and give haliburten a billion to do it... but the dirt would still be there even after the bonus is paid.

[AP]

32. Only if it were a military base, the US Embassy, or a US corp HQ...

... according to Naomi Wolf

She said the US is not rebuilding anything except the things that protect US interests and allow the exploitation of Iraq.

She said the only construction she saw other than in the Green Zone or at a military base was a billboard going up. She says the message is: "Everything you are now, everything you own, everything you do sucks. We’re going to completely erase it and rebuild it with a team of experts. You just go limp and let the experts take over. That is exactly what “Extreme Makover: Iraq” is."

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/21980/

[bunny planet]

6. That's my old neighb. I hope noone was hurt.

[uppityperson]

8. link here

http://www.wnbc.com/traffic/4482870/detail.html
link to pictures too





edited to change pictures to make more sense

[yorkiemommie1]

12. bad

going to turn on tv

[bunny planet]

15. That is literally my old block. The place that collapsed contains the

playground my kids spent every day in. This is just awful.

[bunny planet]

9. Is there a link yet. Nothing on the NYTimes site.

[rockedthevoteinMA]

10. Oh god, please don't let anyone be hurt.

x(

And a big FU to * who has threatened to veto the highway bill!! :banghead:

[MADem]

11. Link and photo, you can watch live at the website

http://www.wnbc.com/index.html

No reports of injuries, firefighters are checking to be sure.

[MrMonk]

13. We were talking about this possibility just last night

and wondering where the first collapse would be.

I hope that there's no one buried under those tons of dirt.

[MADem]

16. And it is RUSH HOUR, no less

The reporter is saying that more emergency people are still coming to the scene, they do not know the cause, heavy equipment enroute, don't know for sure if anyone is underneath, and don't know if there is any further danger of collapse in other areas....

They think, now, that there is no one trapped, but they do not know for sure yet.

Edit--the corporation that owns the property (Castle Village Co-Op) at the top of the hill had been doing repair on the wall--some repair!! Did the Bin Ladin construction company get that contract????

[uppityperson]

17. small story updated here

NEW YORK -- A retaining wall along the Henry Hudson Parkway in upper Manhattan collapsed on Thursday afternoon, burying parked cars.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, fire department spokeswoman Maria Lamberti said.

Fire department personnel were called to the area near Riverside Drive and 181st Street at 4 p.m.

The six-lane parkway was closed in both directions.
http://www.wnbc.com/traffic/4482870/detail.html

[bunny planet]

18. OMG I hope no children were in that playground when this wall collapsed.

It is likely though, it is a beautiful day in the NYC area.

No more than a few lines of news copy so far.

[soleft]

19. I'm down by the Bkln Bridge and traffic on FDR is moving

You'd think it would be jammed up by diverted traffic. I wonder if those buildings on the hill are safe.

[bunny planet]

21. That is a beautiful park behind those buildings.

There are usually quite a few people out in it on nice days like this one and yes I would think those buildings are in danger, they are quite large and quite close to the retaining wall.

Ironically that part of the neighborhood is where the wealthier people now live. Those co-ops have panoramic Hudson River views and combined with their private park, are very expensive now. Just a few blocks away is a much poorer, and much more run-down immigrant neighborhood with tons of people who have moved to Washington Heights from the Dominican Republic. They have potholes on their streets the size of moon craters and their infrastructure is always the last to be paid attention to. Pretty weird that the actual collapse came in the affluent co-op that keeps most of the neighborhood out of their private park and was actually having the wall fixed. It's a good thing though because less people there of course means less people would've been hurt by this wall collapse.

The cars below though, so many at rush hour heading towards the bridge to NJ. If noone is hurt it will be a miracle.

[MADem]

20. They are assessing blame

The city owns Riverside Drive, but the State owns Hudson Parkway, but the Office of Emergency Management is taking control of the scene!

Turns out, this is an EVACUATION ROUTE for NYC. How lovely!!!!!!!!

The video of the traffic is incredible. The cellphone lines are jammed because everyone stuck in traffic is trying to call loved ones.

Heavy equipment has arrived, and DOT and the firefighters as well as the Castle Hill Co-Op people are on the scene.

EDIT--The neighborhood gawkers are out!!! Tons of them, leaning over a parapet next to the damaged wall, trying to get a look at the scene! What a cluster!

2nd Edit--they are deploying thermo-imaging cameras to see what is underneath all of those huge blocks, the dirt, and the giant tree. For sure there are some cars under there....the question is, were there any cars with people in there?

They are worried about additional collapse....

[bunny planet]

22. Thank God, from the pictures on TV it looks as if the playground is still

intact over to the far right of the park facing it from the camera angle.

[ucmike]

23. worst part is the news coverage

i hate when local news anchors try to hypothesize on possible causes. they know nothing of construction or engineering matters and propose all sorts of theories.

i'm watching the local fox affilliate in nyc and they are asking engineers to diagnose the problem from the video feed.

my construction background leads me to one single conclusion:

gravity.

its why everything falls down.

[johnfunk]

31. Yeah, the FOX affiliate in NY bites the big one...

... I'm surprised they haven't blamed it on Hillary Clinton...

[bunny planet]

36. Don't worry they will.

[MADem]

24. The Mayor is flying around in a helo, apparently

They are telling everyone to avoid the area....now they are showing traffic shots, incredible--looks like a parking lot. If this doesn't give those 'terrists' ideas, I don't know what will. Why take down buildings, when you can just push over a few retaining walls and ruin EVERYONE's day.

EDIT--RED CROSS is on the scene, they are developing a plan of action in the event that the huge building closest to the action needs to be evacuated. I guess it suffered quite a jolt when the wall gave way. Not fun, I should imagine...

There were a couple of idiots hanging around at the top of the wall, guess they rounded them up...!

[Cooley Hurd]

25. NY1 saying the Henry Hudson Pkwy retaining wall collapsed...

...onto it.

The parkway system in NY is ANCIENT by today's standards, and needs to be rehabilitated soon!

[bunny planet]

26. Watching local news reports is very frustrating here.

Apparently the fire department is already saying that they think noone was hurt or buried under the debris. I'm not really sure how they are deducing that so soon. There's about 100 thousand cars a day at least that go through that stretch of the Henry Hudson at rush hour and cars parked along Riverside Drive just beneath. Looks like an awful lot of debris. I hope they are right and noone is under there. None of the local news people, who all live in Manhattan for the most part, even know about this neighborhood at all. They get a nose bleed if they go above 96th Street. Noone is noticing that there is a playground just a couple of hundred yards away from the collapsed wall. They figure it out eventually.

Mayor Bloomberg to the rescue / not. He'll just make it's a smoke-free zone just when people really need to light one up for jangled nerves.

[MADem]

27. They have evacuated the building

The fire department is doing a structural survey on it, and the surrounding buildings as well...

Now they are saying no injuries, I guess the magic cameras told them that....

WNBC has finally finished up with the story, and they are moving on to the Twin Towers issue....!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

30. photos..parked cars buried under the slide ...could be people too......

http://us.news3.yimg.com/img.news.yahoo.com/util/anysize/345,http%3A%2F%2Fus.news2.yimg.com%2Fus.yimg.com%2Fp%2Fap%2F20050512%2Fcapt.nydb20105122218.parkway_wall_collapse_nydb201.jpg?v=2

[Roland99]

34. Imagine the guy's face coming out to get in his car and seeing it

smothered in that?

[alcibiades_mystery]

39. Prolly just shrug

Just another day in NY. Wattayagonnado, right?

(New Yorker here)

[insane_cratic_gal]

33. Nothing on

Cnn website ? Are the reporting it at all?

[mefoolonhill]

35. parkway

Not to worry. Only liberals live in that neighborhood.

[kainah]

38. kick this up!

very heavy news day for the political junkie but this is major news! I hope there aren't people buried in that....